Although they specifically leave out Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel because "nobody played these games, nobody really liked them, and they were ultimately forgotten", I'm still going to point you over to Vice for a retrospective feature on the Fallout series as it starts off with the original's release in 1997 and continues through to Bethesda's latest iteration. A snip:

By the time Fallout 2 came out in 1998 yes, only a year passed between the first game and its sequel's release, something which the internet would have a meltdown over these days I had gotten to grips with the game's demands, to a degree. Without the likes of Wikipedia and in-depth forum debates, I was lacking the nous when it came to things like how to tackle an army of supermutants without taking heavy losses but the same could be said about talking to girls without shitting in my Y-fronts. I had figured these things out by myself. Just about.

That Fallout 2 was very similar to its predecessor helped me click quickly with its mechanics. I'd almost settled into a rhythm with the first, just as life had become something I was almost used to, and the familiarity I found washing over me when I started my search for Vault 13 was a welcome feeling I won't soon forget. Although, while Fallout 2 introduced the ability to push companions out of the way, I hadn't learned how to physically impose myself on anything bigger than a particularly small fly at that point.